cetra

Forms

cetra f (plural cetre)^[1] The older form is cetera, literary today.^[2][3] Old Italian also wrote cetara, cedra and citara.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin citĕra, the popular form of Latin cithara (“lyre”) that the Appendix Probi of the 5th century lists as a mistake.^[5][6][1] Its direct outcome was Old Italian cetera, which then lost its middle vowel.^[5][7]

Latin took the word from Ancient Greek κιθάρα (kithára), with the usual wavering between unstressed ⟨ar⟩ and ⟨er⟩.^[1][8] Its further origin is uncertain: Nocentini calls it pre-Indo-European, the DEI probably a loan from an eastern language or a Mediterranean word, and Devoto–Oli presumes an eastern source.^{[9][5][10][2]}

The popular Latin form also gave Romanian ceteră (“harp”), Romansh cetra, sedra in Old Occitan and cedra in Old Spanish, and it was borrowed into Old High German as zitera, the source of German Zither.^[6][5] Learned forms are Italian citara and citera.^[6][11] The modern instrument's name chitarra is a doublet that most likely came through Arabic, which explains its initial ⟨k⟩.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the plural cythari in the Marchigian Ritmo di Sant'Alessio of the late 12th century, in a list of instruments played at a feast, “cythari with drums and sambuche”.^[9][4][12] Giamboni's Florentine Libro de' vizî e delle virtudi has cetera before 1292, and Dante used cetera in the Convivio (1304–1308) and cetra in the Paradiso, both for a stringed instrument.^[5][6][9]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for the sound of the instrument and the art of playing it as well.^[4] Boccaccio wrote of the cetera d'Orfeo, the lyre of Orpheus, and by extension poetic song (1336–1338).^[6] Petrarch used it for poetic inspiration: Secca è la vena dell'usato ingegno / e la cetera mia rivolta in pianto, “dry is the vein of my usual wit, and my lyre turned to weeping”.^[9][2] This figurative sense, “poetic gift, poetry”, has stayed in literary Italian, from Machiavelli to Monti and Carducci.^[9][6] Florentine idioms included essere come l'asino al suon della cetera, “to be like the donkey at the sound of the lyre”, of someone who does not appreciate a kindness, and racconciare le cetere, “to put things right”.^[6]

The name passed to other plucked instruments: a lute-family instrument with a long neck and metal strings in the 16th and 17th centuries, and since 1902 the German folk zither, the cetra da tavolo.^[3][9][2] For modern instruments of the guitar type, Italian has used chitarra since the late Middle Ages.^[6]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – Cythari in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio.^[9][4]
• Before 1292 – Cetera in Giamboni.^[5][6]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses cetera in the Convivio.^[9]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses the form cetra.^[9]
• 1336–1338 – Boccaccio's cetera d'Orfeo.^[6]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses cetera for poetic inspiration.^[9]
• Before 1527 – Machiavelli uses cetra in the same figurative sense.^[9]
• 1902 – The word is applied to the German folk zither.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (music, history) The cithara, the stringed instrument of classical antiquity, similar to the lyre but larger, used to accompany poetry: Nei dipinti Apollo tiene la cetra sulle ginocchia.^{[13][2][3][1]}
2. (music) Any plucked stringed instrument without a neck, especially the zither (cetra da tavolo).^{[13][11][3][1]}
3. (music, history) A lute-family instrument with a long neck and metal strings, used in the 16th and 17th centuries.^[3]
4. (figurative, literary) Poetic inspiration or gift, or poetry itself.^{[13][2][7][11]}

Related words

• chitarra
• citara
• citera
• Latin cithara
• German Zither

Usage notes

The e is pronounced closed or open (cétra, cètra).^[2][7] A separate learned word cetra, from Latin caetra, of Iberian or African origin, names the small round shield of wicker and leather used by ancient Iberian and African peoples;^{[13][2][3][4]} GRADIT dates it before 1646, while the TLIO already finds it in Simintendi before 1333.^{[13][2][3][4]} The DEI also records a rare cetra for the John Dory, from Latin citharus.^[10][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 14, 814
7. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 881
11. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET